The S&P 500 (^GSPC +0.80%) and Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC +1.63%) aren't the only things making history on Wall Street. Shortly, we'll be witnessing the largest-ever initial public offering (IPO), courtesy of Elon Musk's SpaceX.
While several prominent private artificial intelligence superstars are expected to go public toward the end of this year, including OpenAI and Anthropic, SpaceX is poised to steal the show. Musk's company, which includes space infrastructure, satellite-based broadband services (Starlink), start-up AI company xAI, and social media platform X, aims to raise $75 billion and command a $1.75 trillion to $2 trillion valuation.
Although we're still very early in the process, there are several important dates and time frames we do know about the SpaceX IPO timeline.
Image source: Getty Images.
April 1: The confidential filing
The wheels of the SpaceX IPO were officially put in motion on April 1, with Bloomberg reporting that the company had confidentially filed for an IPO with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). A confidential filing allows the SEC to privately review SpaceX's financial statements before releasing an official prospectus, known as a registration statement (S-1), to the public.
April 21-23: Analyst Day
From April 21 through April 23, SpaceX held closed-door meetings with Wall Street analysts and institutional investors, according to people familiar with the matter, per CNBC. These meetings typically lay out a company's long-term growth strategy and provide industry experts with financial statements.
May 15-22: Estimated registration statement (S-1) filing
The next big step in the SpaceX IPO timeline is the expected filing of its prospectus between May 15 and May 22. The S-1 filing is a lengthy release that provides prospective investors with a company's risk factors and audited financial statements, among other information.
Since the SEC requires registration statements to be filed at least 15 calendar days prior to any marketing, May 15 to May 22 is the logical S-1 filing timeline.
Image source: Getty Images.
Week of June 8: Start of the roadshow
Marketing for the largest IPO in stock market history is projected to begin the week of June 8, which is why the S-1 must be filed by no later than May 22.
The roadshow is typically led by a company's management team and public offering underwriters and is designed to drum up interest from institutional investors and Wall Street analysts. It's a demand-building exercise that typically lasts a week or two.
June 11: Investor Day
According to CNBC, SpaceX plans to host approximately 1,500 retail investors following its roadshow launch on June 11. This retail investor event is imperative for drumming up interest, given that SpaceX may set aside up to 30% of its shares for everyday investors -- that's well above the norm for a typical IPO.
June 18-30: Estimated IPO date
If the SpaceX roadshow follows the typical marketing timeline, its IPO date should land between June 18 and June 30. For reference, Facebook (now Meta Platforms) conducted a roadshow from May 7-17, 2012, and went public on May 18.
Although SpaceX hasn't provided any hard dates for its IPO, one week after its Investor Day is a logical target if demand is as strong as expected.
Dec. 15-27: Estimated lockup period ends
The final time frame to note is the estimated end of the 180-day lockup period, which falls between Dec. 15 and Dec. 27. When the lockup period ends for a newly public company, insiders and early investors are free to sell their shares.
